The Adopted Cannon Fodder Made a Comeback

Chen Fengjiao’s husband, Lin Shan, was also Gu’er’s father. He stared intently at Gu’er. The moment he laid eyes on her, he knew in his heart that this was his eldest daughter, the one he’d lost so many years ago.

"Gu’er."

With red-rimmed eyes, Chen Fengjiao stepped forward and grasped Gu’er’s hand.

But Gu’er didn’t know how to feel. She had thought she would be overcome with emotion, but right now, she felt none of the turmoil from their last encounter. Perhaps it was because Sun Jiaming and Grandma Sun had given her the love she’d been missing, or perhaps she had cried all her tears out last time and was now simply calm.

"Please, sit. Let’s talk things over sitting down."

Sun Jiaming had everyone sit down and then poured them some water. He didn’t drive Zhou Mazi away. To get to the bottom of this, they needed Li Hua. Since these people had come knocking, it meant they had already figured everything out. Today was the day to settle things.

"Gu’er, these are your real mom and dad. What are you waiting for? Greet them."

The moment they were seated, it was surprisingly Zhou Mazi who broke the silence.

Gu’er looked at him. A smile was plastered on Zhou Mazi’s face. ’He must be after some kind of reward,’ Gu’er thought. ’There’s no other reason he’d be this eager.’

Nearby, Li Hua hung her head, tears streaming down her face. Even though Gu’er had formally separated from the Zhou family, she was still in the village. Li Hua could still see her often. She was still her daughter, she still called her "Mom," and every now and then, she’d bring her tasty food out of filial respect.

But now, Gu’er’s birth parents had found her. ’What should I do? Give Gu’er back to them?’ The thought of Gu’er calling another woman "Mom," of no longer being her daughter, made her feel as if a piece of her heart had been carved out.

"Gu’er, I’m your mother. I’m your real mother."

Chen Fengjiao clutched Gu’er’s hand and began to cry as well. Her eldest daughter! Lost for so many years, and now, finally, she’d found her. How could she not be overwhelmed? The only reason they hadn’t come sooner was that they’d been investigating. She had only just learned how much her daughter had suffered. How could her heart not ache?

Gu’er felt a prickle in her nose. She had often wondered what it would be like to meet her biological parents, imagining that she would break down and cry in her mother’s arms. But for some reason, she didn’t share Chen Fengjiao’s intense emotion. She just couldn’t feel what her mother was feeling.

"Hua’er, what’s really going on here? Are they truly Gu’er’s parents?"

Seeing that Gu’er remained silent, Grandma Sun spoke up.

Li Hua nodded, unable to utter a word.

"You two have been here for a while now, and I still don’t know your names," Grandma Sun said, addressing the couple.

Grandma Sun figured it was almost certainly true. Judging by the resemblance, there was no mistake. As an elder, it was her place to ask their names.

"Ma’am, my name is Lin Shan. You can just call me Lin Shan. This is my wife, Feng Jiao. Gu’er is indeed our daughter."

Lin Shan seemed to be the more composed of the two. This was the first time he had spoken since arriving. Still, Gu’er could tell that he was emotional, too.

"Lin Shan, Feng Jiao. Alright, I’ll take the liberty of calling you by your names, then. It may not be my place to ask, but Gu’er is a good girl. She’s been here so long that I think of her as my own granddaughter. So for her sake, I have to ask: what exactly happened all those years ago?"

Grandma Sun knew this was the question that weighed heavily on Gu’er’s heart. She also wanted to know what had really happened. Why would parents abandon their child? 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Chen Fengjiao was sobbing, unable to control herself. Lin Shan sighed and began to recount the events of that year.

Lin Shan’s family was from the city, but for certain reasons, he had been assigned to a village. That was where he met and fell in love with Chen Fengjiao.

Chen Fengjiao was also from a city, though not a nearby one. The two of them lived in the village for several years.

When Gu’er was three, Lin Shan managed to secure a position back in the city. He had a job and could finally bring his family with him.

Chen Fengjiao was ecstatic; she couldn’t wait to leave the village. As soon as she got the news, she started packing. At the time, she was nine months pregnant and due any day. Gu’er was a little over three years old. Moving to the city was a major event in the village, and many people came over to offer congratulations and help them pack. But after they had said their goodbyes and the ox-cart was about to take them to the city, they realized Gu’er was gone.

It was crowded and chaotic. No one had noticed exactly when she had disappeared.

Chen Fengjiao was heavy with child and clumsy on her feet. With so many people around, she hadn’t been holding Gu’er’s hand the entire time. It never occurred to her that Gu’er might vanish; she assumed her daughter was already on the cart. When she realized Gu’er was missing, she tried to jump down and go back to find her, but the shock sent her into premature labor.

They rushed her to the city, where she gave birth.

Due to the premature birth, Chen Fengjiao had to undergo traditional postpartum confinement, during which she couldn’t leave the house. The new baby was tiny and fragile, so returning to the village was impossible. Lin Shan’s job had just started, and with his parents deceased, he had no one else to rely on. He had to work while also caring for Chen Fengjiao and the newborn, leaving him no time to search for Gu’er himself. He could only entrust the search to people back in the village.

But no one in the village could say when or where Gu’er had gone missing. They searched the area around the village for days but found nothing. Everyone assumed she had been abducted. In the end, they told Lin Shan they couldn’t find her. After so many days, they said, the child was either dead or had been kidnapped.

Lin Shan and Chen Fengjiao couldn’t accept this. Lin Shan rushed back to the village to search himself, but he couldn’t stay long and found nothing. Once Chen Fengjiao finished her postpartum confinement, she went back as well, but she also couldn’t find her. They refused to give up and kept searching, but they couldn’t stay in the village indefinitely. They had another child to care for and jobs to attend to, so all they could do was ask others to continue the search for them.

But when you ask others for help, if they don’t find anything after a day or two, their efforts start to wane. After all, it wasn’t their own child, and besides, it was just a girl. She was probably long gone.

After a year, then two, Lin Shan and Chen Fengjiao finally lost hope. They concluded that she must have been abducted. Gu’er was only three and couldn’t speak much; there was no way she could be found.

All they could do was pray that wherever Gu’er was, the family who had her would treat her well, keep her fed and warm. They didn’t dare to imagine whether she was even still alive, or if she was suffering from cold and hunger. It was because of this longing and guilt that they poured all their love onto their second daughter, Lin Sui’er. Even after Chen Fengjiao later had a son, they never doted on him as much as they did their daughter.

They had always believed Gu’er was abducted and sold off to some unknown place. They never imagined they would see her again, nor did they imagine she had endured so much hardship.

Chen Fengjiao couldn’t stop crying. Her heart ached with pain and regret. If only they had checked a few more villages, they might have found her. They had assumed that since Gu’er was so young, she couldn’t have wandered far, so they only asked around in the two nearest villages. Then, when they thought she’d been abducted, they assumed she would have been sold somewhere far away. They never dreamed she was right here all this time.

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Happy weekend.